The effect of the timing of pre-reading activities on students' reading comprehension

Abstract

This study investigated (a) the effects of the timing of pre-reading activities on students’ reading comprehension when they were conducted either one day before reading a text or immediately before reading a text, and (b) the students’ attitudes to the effectiveness of pre-reading activities with respect to their timing. Two preintermediate and two intermediate classes participated in the study. The study used a within-subjects design in which all four classes acted as their own control and experimental groups since they all received both treatments in two weeks. During the two-week study, two texts were used (Text A and B). The pre-reading activities used for each group of students were the same (class discussion-brainstorming, vocabulary matching and video watching). In the first week of the experiment, treatment group A both in the pre-intermediate level and the intermediate level, was given prereading activities one day before reading text A, and treatment group B in both levels, was given pre-reading activities immediately before reading text A. In the second week, treatment group A was given the pre-reading activities immediately before reading text B, and treatment group B was given the pre-reading activities one day before reading text B. After each treatment, the students were asked to write a summary in their L1 about the texts they had read, as a post-test. Following the treatment, the self-reports of eight randomly chosen participant students in the form of post-treatment semi-structured interviews, were taken to explore their attitudes towards the timing of the pre-reading activities. The data analysis showed that when pre-reading activities were done immediately before reading a text, the students performed better in their post-tests than when the pre-reading activities were done one day before reading a text. The study also revealed that effective timing of pre-reading activities might be more important for lower level students when a text is difficult. The analysis of the interviews demonstrated that the pre-reading activities that the study used were effective for students’ comprehension; the attitudes of the students about the timing of the pre-reading activities were mixed. The interviews also revealed students’ different reactions to variations in teaching methods. It was speculated that their different preferences were due to their different learning styles.